minimal-marketable-.feature

Minimal Marketable Feature

Business / By /

The Minimal Marketable Feature (MMF) is a core concept in Agile development, representing the smallest set of functionalities that deliver customer value and can be released independently. By focusing on MMFs, Agile teams can achieve faster time-to-market, gather early feedback, and mitigate risks. However, defining MMFs and coordinating multiple features can present challenges in Agile projects. With well-defined MMFs, teams can prioritize customer-centric product development and achieve iterative releases.

Components of Minimum Marketable Feature (MMF)

  • Functionality: At the core of MMF is functionality. It represents the specific capabilities or features that the MMF delivers to users. This functionality is carefully selected to provide immediate value to customers.
  • Customer Value: MMF places a strong emphasis on delivering customer value. Each MMF component should offer tangible benefits to users, addressing their needs and preferences effectively.
  • Independence: Independence refers to the ability to release the MMF separately from other features or components. This autonomy allows teams to deliver value incrementally and avoid dependencies that might hinder progress.

Benefits of Minimum Marketable Feature (MMF)

  • Early Feedback: MMF facilitates the collection of valuable customer feedback at an early stage. By delivering functional components sooner, teams can validate assumptions, gather user input, and make informed decisions.
  • Faster Time to Market: MMF accelerates the time it takes to bring valuable functionalities to the market. Rather than waiting for complete feature sets, teams release MMFs iteratively, allowing users to benefit sooner.
  • Risk Mitigation: Identifying and addressing risks early in the development cycle is a significant advantage of MMF. By focusing on high-value components first, teams can tackle potential challenges proactively.

Challenges in Implementing Minimum Marketable Feature (MMF)

  • Defining MMFs: Determining the appropriate scope and granularity of MMFs can be challenging. Teams must strike a balance between delivering value early and ensuring that each MMF remains meaningful to users.
  • Coordination: Coordinating multiple MMFs to ensure cohesive releases can be complex. Teams need to manage dependencies and maintain a clear roadmap to align with the overall product vision.
  • Technical Complexity: Managing technical complexities and dependencies between MMFs can present hurdles. Teams must address these intricacies effectively to avoid delays and maintain the independence of each feature.

Use Cases of Minimum Marketable Feature (MMF)

  • Agile Software Development: MMF is a natural fit for Agile software development methodologies. It aligns with Agile principles of delivering value incrementally, responding to change, and prioritizing customer needs.
  • Product Development: MMF can be applied beyond software development to prioritize and deliver customer-centric product features. It ensures that product teams focus on delivering the most valuable components first.
  • Iterative Releases: The concept of MMF supports iterative and incremental release strategies. By breaking down product development into manageable chunks, teams can continuously deliver value to users.

Roles Involved in Minimum Marketable Feature (MMF)

  • Product Owner: The product owner plays a central role in MMF implementation. They are responsible for defining and prioritizing MMFs based on customer value, market needs, and business goals.
  • Development Team: The development team executes the development and delivery of MMFs. They translate the vision of the MMF into functional features that users can benefit from.
  • Stakeholders: Stakeholders, including customers and end-users, provide feedback and validate the value delivered by MMFs. Their insights are essential for refining MMFs and ensuring they align with user expectations.

Case Studies

  • E-commerce Platform:
    • Example: An e-commerce company is developing a new online shopping platform. Instead of building the entire website with all its features before launch, they identify MMFs that deliver core functionality to customers. The first MMF might include user registration, product browsing, and cart functionality. They release this MMF early to gather user feedback and start generating revenue, followed by subsequent MMFs that add more features like payment processing, reviews, and recommendations.
    • Benefit: The company gets the platform to market faster, collects valuable user feedback, and iteratively improves the platform based on user needs.
  • Mobile App Development:
    • Example: A mobile app development team is working on a new social networking app. They identify MMFs such as user profile creation, posting text updates, and following other users. These MMFs can be released independently as the initial version of the app. Subsequent MMFs might include adding multimedia content sharing, direct messaging, and notifications. By releasing MMFs, the team keeps users engaged and continuously improves the app.
    • Benefit: The team maintains user interest, learns from real user behavior, and adapts the app’s development based on user interactions.
  • Manufacturing Equipment Control Software:
    • Example: A company is developing software to control manufacturing equipment. Instead of waiting to release a fully-featured control system, they identify MMFs that allow basic equipment operation and safety controls. These MMFs can be installed on the equipment, ensuring it can be used safely and effectively. Subsequent MMFs might add advanced features for automation and reporting.
    • Benefit: Manufacturers can start using the equipment sooner, reducing downtime and enabling them to meet production deadlines.
  • Educational Software:
    • Example: A team is developing educational software for schools. They identify MMFs such as student registration, lesson planning, and grade tracking. These MMFs are released to schools as a basic version of the software. Later MMFs might include more advanced features like automated grading, analytics, and integration with other educational systems.
    • Benefit: Schools can start using the software for essential functions, and educators can provide feedback to shape the development of additional features.

Minimal Marketable Feature (MMF) Highlights

  • Core Concept: MMF represents the smallest set of functionalities delivering customer value and can be released independently in Agile development.
  • Components: Comprises Functionality, Customer Value, and Independence for standalone releases.
  • Benefits: Offers Early Feedback, Faster Time to Market, and Risk Mitigation through independent releases.
  • Challenges: Involves Defining MMFs, Coordination of multiple features, and Managing Technical Complexity.
  • Use Cases: Applicable in Agile Software Development, Product Development, and for achieving Iterative Releases.
  • Roles: Main roles include Product Owner for MMF definition, Development Team for execution, and Stakeholders for feedback.

Related Frameworks, Models, or ConceptsDescriptionWhen to Apply
Minimum Viable Product (MVP)– Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is the smallest version of a product that allows a team to validate hypotheses, test assumptions, and gather feedback from early adopters. MVPs focus on delivering core features that solve a specific problem or address a key customer need while minimizing time and resources invested. MVPs help startups and product teams quickly iterate and adapt based on user feedback and market validation.– During product development or innovation initiatives to validate ideas, reduce time-to-market, and minimize development costs. – Applicable in industries such as technology, startups, and consumer goods to launch products with minimal features and gather feedback iteratively.
Feature Prioritization Techniques– Feature prioritization techniques such as MoSCoW (Must have, Should have, Could have, Won’t have), Kano model, and Value vs. Complexity matrix help product teams prioritize features based on their importance to users, business value, and technical feasibility. These techniques enable teams to identify and focus on implementing MMFs—the essential features that deliver maximum value with minimal effort.– During product backlog refinement, sprint planning, or product roadmap prioritization exercises. – Applicable in industries such as software development, product management, and marketing to align feature development with customer needs and strategic objectives.
Lean Startup Methodology– The Lean Startup Methodology emphasizes the importance of quickly building, measuring, and learning from MVPs to validate business ideas and iterate product development based on customer feedback. Lean Startup principles, such as validated learning, build-measure-learn feedback loops, and pivoting, guide startups and product teams in efficiently developing and scaling products with minimal waste.– During the early stages of product ideation, validation, and iteration or when launching new ventures or products in uncertain markets. – Applicable in industries such as technology, entrepreneurship, and e-commerce to accelerate innovation and reduce the risk of product failure through rapid experimentation and customer validation.
User Story Mapping– User Story Mapping is a technique used to visualize and prioritize user stories or features based on user needs and workflows. User story maps help product teams identify and organize MMFs—the essential slices of functionality that deliver value to users in a coherent and prioritized manner. User story mapping sessions facilitate collaboration, alignment, and decision-making among cross-functional teams.– During product discovery, backlog grooming, or release planning sessions to define product features and prioritize development efforts. – Applicable in industries such as software development, UX design, and Agile project management to ensure that product development aligns with user needs and business goals.
Agile Estimation Techniques– Agile estimation techniques such as story points, relative sizing, and planning poker help teams estimate the effort and complexity of implementing user stories or features. By breaking down features into smaller, more manageable units and estimating their relative size, teams can identify MMFs—the features that deliver the most value with the least effort. Agile estimation fosters transparency, collaboration, and alignment in planning and executing product development.– During sprint planning, backlog refinement, or release planning to estimate the effort required to implement features and prioritize backlog items. – Applicable in industries such as software development, project management, and marketing to improve predictability and productivity in Agile environments.
Value Stream Mapping (VSM)– Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is a Lean technique used to visualize, analyze, and optimize the flow of value through a process from concept to delivery. Value stream maps identify waste, bottlenecks, and opportunities for improvement in product development and delivery workflows. By identifying and streamlining value-adding activities, teams can focus on delivering MMFs—the features that contribute most to customer value and business outcomes.– During product development lifecycle, process improvement initiatives, or value stream analysis to identify and prioritize features that deliver maximum value to customers and stakeholders. – Applicable in industries such as software development, manufacturing, and service delivery to optimize processes and enhance value delivery to customers.
Continuous Deployment– Continuous Deployment is a software development practice where code changes are automatically deployed to production environments after passing automated tests and quality checks. Continuous deployment enables teams to release MMFs and incremental updates to users rapidly and frequently, accelerating feedback loops and reducing time-to-market. By automating the deployment pipeline, teams can deliver value to customers continuously and iteratively.– During software development lifecycle, DevOps practices, or Agile delivery processes to automate deployment and release MMFs to production environments quickly and reliably. – Applicable in industries such as technology, e-commerce, and SaaS to improve agility, responsiveness, and customer satisfaction through rapid feature delivery and deployment.
A/B Testing– A/B Testing, also known as split testing, is a method used to compare two versions of a product or feature to determine which one performs better based on predefined metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs). A/B testing enables teams to validate hypotheses, iterate designs, and optimize features iteratively based on user feedback and behavior. By testing variations of MMFs, teams can make data-driven decisions and improve product effectiveness and user satisfaction.– During product development, user experience (UX) design, or marketing campaigns to validate feature effectiveness and optimize user engagement and conversion rates. – Applicable in industries such as e-commerce, digital marketing, and software development to improve product performance and customer experience through iterative experimentation and optimization.
Customer Development– Customer Development is a methodology developed by Steve Blank that emphasizes the importance of validating product-market fit through customer discovery and validation. Customer Development involves engaging with potential users and customers to understand their needs, pain points, and preferences, and iteratively refining product features and offerings based on feedback. By focusing on delivering MMFs that address real customer problems, teams can increase adoption and satisfaction.– During product ideation, validation, and iteration or when launching new products or entering new markets. – Applicable in industries such as startups, technology, and consumer goods to align product development with customer needs and market demand through iterative customer engagement and validation.
Design Thinking– Design Thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation and problem-solving that involves empathizing with users, defining needs, ideating solutions, prototyping concepts, and testing iteratively. Design Thinking fosters creativity, collaboration, and user-centricity in product development, enabling teams to identify and prioritize MMFs that address user needs and deliver meaningful experiences. By iterating through the design thinking process, teams can refine solutions and optimize features based on user feedback and insights.– During product discovery, UX/UI design, or innovation workshops to generate ideas, prototype concepts, and validate solutions iteratively with users. – Applicable in industries such as design, technology, and healthcare to drive user-centered innovation and deliver products that resonate with users’ needs and preferences.
Cross-Functional Collaboration– Cross-functional collaboration involves bringing together individuals from different disciplines, departments, or teams to work collaboratively on common goals or projects. Cross-functional teams enable diverse perspectives, skills, and expertise to converge, leading to more holistic problem-solving and decision-making. By fostering collaboration among stakeholders, teams can identify and prioritize MMFs that address a wide range of user needs and business requirements effectively.– Throughout the product development lifecycle, project planning, or strategic initiatives to leverage diverse perspectives and expertise in defining and delivering MMFs. – Applicable in industries such as Agile development, innovation, and product management to drive collaboration, alignment, and shared ownership of product development goals and outcomes.

Connected Agile & Lean Frameworks

AIOps

aiops
AIOps is the application of artificial intelligence to IT operations. It has become particularly useful for modern IT management in hybridized, distributed, and dynamic environments. AIOps has become a key operational component of modern digital-based organizations, built around software and algorithms.

AgileSHIFT

AgileSHIFT
AgileSHIFT is a framework that prepares individuals for transformational change by creating a culture of agility.

Agile Methodology

agile-methodology
Agile started as a lightweight development method compared to heavyweight software development, which is the core paradigm of the previous decades of software development. By 2001 the Manifesto for Agile Software Development was born as a set of principles that defined the new paradigm for software development as a continuous iteration. This would also influence the way of doing business.

Agile Program Management

agile-program-management
Agile Program Management is a means of managing, planning, and coordinating interrelated work in such a way that value delivery is emphasized for all key stakeholders. Agile Program Management (AgilePgM) is a disciplined yet flexible agile approach to managing transformational change within an organization.

Agile Project Management

agile-project-management
Agile project management (APM) is a strategy that breaks large projects into smaller, more manageable tasks. In the APM methodology, each project is completed in small sections – often referred to as iterations. Each iteration is completed according to its project life cycle, beginning with the initial design and progressing to testing and then quality assurance.

Agile Modeling

agile-modeling
Agile Modeling (AM) is a methodology for modeling and documenting software-based systems. Agile Modeling is critical to the rapid and continuous delivery of software. It is a collection of values, principles, and practices that guide effective, lightweight software modeling.

Agile Business Analysis

agile-business-analysis
Agile Business Analysis (AgileBA) is certification in the form of guidance and training for business analysts seeking to work in agile environments. To support this shift, AgileBA also helps the business analyst relate Agile projects to a wider organizational mission or strategy. To ensure that analysts have the necessary skills and expertise, AgileBA certification was developed.

Agile Leadership

agile-leadership
Agile leadership is the embodiment of agile manifesto principles by a manager or management team. Agile leadership impacts two important levels of a business. The structural level defines the roles, responsibilities, and key performance indicators. The behavioral level describes the actions leaders exhibit to others based on agile principles. 

Andon System

andon-system
The andon system alerts managerial, maintenance, or other staff of a production process problem. The alert itself can be activated manually with a button or pull cord, but it can also be activated automatically by production equipment. Most Andon boards utilize three colored lights similar to a traffic signal: green (no errors), yellow or amber (problem identified, or quality check needed), and red (production stopped due to unidentified issue).

Bimodal Portfolio Management

bimodal-portfolio-management
Bimodal Portfolio Management (BimodalPfM) helps an organization manage both agile and traditional portfolios concurrently. Bimodal Portfolio Management – sometimes referred to as bimodal development – was coined by research and advisory company Gartner. The firm argued that many agile organizations still needed to run some aspects of their operations using traditional delivery models.

Business Innovation Matrix

business-innovation
Business innovation is about creating new opportunities for an organization to reinvent its core offerings, revenue streams, and enhance the value proposition for existing or new customers, thus renewing its whole business model. Business innovation springs by understanding the structure of the market, thus adapting or anticipating those changes.

Business Model Innovation

business-model-innovation
Business model innovation is about increasing the success of an organization with existing products and technologies by crafting a compelling value proposition able to propel a new business model to scale up customers and create a lasting competitive advantage. And it all starts by mastering the key customers.

Constructive Disruption

constructive-disruption
A consumer brand company like Procter & Gamble (P&G) defines “Constructive Disruption” as: a willingness to change, adapt, and create new trends and technologies that will shape our industry for the future. According to P&G, it moves around four pillars: lean innovation, brand building, supply chain, and digitalization & data analytics.

Continuous Innovation

continuous-innovation
That is a process that requires a continuous feedback loop to develop a valuable product and build a viable business model. Continuous innovation is a mindset where products and services are designed and delivered to tune them around the customers’ problem and not the technical solution of its founders.

Design Sprint

design-sprint
A design sprint is a proven five-day process where critical business questions are answered through speedy design and prototyping, focusing on the end-user. A design sprint starts with a weekly challenge that should finish with a prototype, test at the end, and therefore a lesson learned to be iterated.

Design Thinking

design-thinking
Tim Brown, Executive Chair of IDEO, defined design thinking as “a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.” Therefore, desirability, feasibility, and viability are balanced to solve critical problems.

DevOps

devops-engineering
DevOps refers to a series of practices performed to perform automated software development processes. It is a conjugation of the term “development” and “operations” to emphasize how functions integrate across IT teams. DevOps strategies promote seamless building, testing, and deployment of products. It aims to bridge a gap between development and operations teams to streamline the development altogether.

Dual Track Agile

dual-track-agile
Product discovery is a critical part of agile methodologies, as its aim is to ensure that products customers love are built. Product discovery involves learning through a raft of methods, including design thinking, lean start-up, and A/B testing to name a few. Dual Track Agile is an agile methodology containing two separate tracks: the “discovery” track and the “delivery” track.

eXtreme Programming

extreme-programming
eXtreme Programming was developed in the late 1990s by Ken Beck, Ron Jeffries, and Ward Cunningham. During this time, the trio was working on the Chrysler Comprehensive Compensation System (C3) to help manage the company payroll system. eXtreme Programming (XP) is a software development methodology. It is designed to improve software quality and the ability of software to adapt to changing customer needs.

Feature-Driven Development

feature-driven-development
Feature-Driven Development is a pragmatic software process that is client and architecture-centric. Feature-Driven Development (FDD) is an agile software development model that organizes workflow according to which features need to be developed next.

Gemba Walk

gemba-walk
A Gemba Walk is a fundamental component of lean management. It describes the personal observation of work to learn more about it. Gemba is a Japanese word that loosely translates as “the real place”, or in business, “the place where value is created”. The Gemba Walk as a concept was created by Taiichi Ohno, the father of the Toyota Production System of lean manufacturing. Ohno wanted to encourage management executives to leave their offices and see where the real work happened. This, he hoped, would build relationships between employees with vastly different skillsets and build trust.

GIST Planning

gist-planning
GIST Planning is a relatively easy and lightweight agile approach to product planning that favors autonomous working. GIST Planning is a lean and agile methodology that was created by former Google product manager Itamar Gilad. GIST Planning seeks to address this situation by creating lightweight plans that are responsive and adaptable to change. GIST Planning also improves team velocity, autonomy, and alignment by reducing the pervasive influence of management. It consists of four blocks: goals, ideas, step-projects, and tasks.

ICE Scoring

ice-scoring-model
The ICE Scoring Model is an agile methodology that prioritizes features using data according to three components: impact, confidence, and ease of implementation. The ICE Scoring Model was initially created by author and growth expert Sean Ellis to help companies expand. Today, the model is broadly used to prioritize projects, features, initiatives, and rollouts. It is ideally suited for early-stage product development where there is a continuous flow of ideas and momentum must be maintained.

Innovation Funnel

innovation-funnel
An innovation funnel is a tool or process ensuring only the best ideas are executed. In a metaphorical sense, the funnel screens innovative ideas for viability so that only the best products, processes, or business models are launched to the market. An innovation funnel provides a framework for the screening and testing of innovative ideas for viability.

Innovation Matrix

types-of-innovation
According to how well defined is the problem and how well defined the domain, we have four main types of innovations: basic research (problem and domain or not well defined); breakthrough innovation (domain is not well defined, the problem is well defined); sustaining innovation (both problem and domain are well defined); and disruptive innovation (domain is well defined, the problem is not well defined).

Innovation Theory

innovation-theory
The innovation loop is a methodology/framework derived from the Bell Labs, which produced innovation at scale throughout the 20th century. They learned how to leverage a hybrid innovation management model based on science, invention, engineering, and manufacturing at scale. By leveraging individual genius, creativity, and small/large groups.

Lean vs. Agile

lean-methodology-vs-agile
The Agile methodology has been primarily thought of for software development (and other business disciplines have also adopted it). Lean thinking is a process improvement technique where teams prioritize the value streams to improve it continuously. Both methodologies look at the customer as the key driver to improvement and waste reduction. Both methodologies look at improvement as something continuous.

Lean Startup

startup-company
A startup company is a high-tech business that tries to build a scalable business model in tech-driven industries. A startup company usually follows a lean methodology, where continuous innovation, driven by built-in viral loops is the rule. Thus, driving growth and building network effects as a consequence of this strategy.

Minimum Viable Product

minimum-viable-product
As pointed out by Eric Ries, a minimum viable product is that version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort through a cycle of build, measure, learn; that is the foundation of the lean startup methodology.

Leaner MVP

leaner-mvp
A leaner MVP is the evolution of the MPV approach. Where the market risk is validated before anything else

Kanban

kanban
Kanban is a lean manufacturing framework first developed by Toyota in the late 1940s. The Kanban framework is a means of visualizing work as it moves through identifying potential bottlenecks. It does that through a process called just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing to optimize engineering processes, speed up manufacturing products, and improve the go-to-market strategy.

Jidoka

jidoka
Jidoka was first used in 1896 by Sakichi Toyoda, who invented a textile loom that would stop automatically when it encountered a defective thread. Jidoka is a Japanese term used in lean manufacturing. The term describes a scenario where machines cease operating without human intervention when a problem or defect is discovered.

PDCA Cycle

pdca-cycle
The PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle was first proposed by American physicist and engineer Walter A. Shewhart in the 1920s. The PDCA cycle is a continuous process and product improvement method and an essential component of the lean manufacturing philosophy.

Rational Unified Process

rational-unified-process
Rational unified process (RUP) is an agile software development methodology that breaks the project life cycle down into four distinct phases.

Rapid Application Development

rapid-application-development
RAD was first introduced by author and consultant James Martin in 1991. Martin recognized and then took advantage of the endless malleability of software in designing development models. Rapid Application Development (RAD) is a methodology focusing on delivering rapidly through continuous feedback and frequent iterations.

Retrospective Analysis

retrospective-analysis
Retrospective analyses are held after a project to determine what worked well and what did not. They are also conducted at the end of an iteration in Agile project management. Agile practitioners call these meetings retrospectives or retros. They are an effective way to check the pulse of a project team, reflect on the work performed to date, and reach a consensus on how to tackle the next sprint cycle. These are the five stages of a retrospective analysis for effective Agile project management: set the stage, gather the data, generate insights, decide on the next steps, and close the retrospective.

Scaled Agile

scaled-agile-lean-development
Scaled Agile Lean Development (ScALeD) helps businesses discover a balanced approach to agile transition and scaling questions. The ScALed approach helps businesses successfully respond to change. Inspired by a combination of lean and agile values, ScALed is practitioner-based and can be completed through various agile frameworks and practices.

SMED

smed
The SMED (single minute exchange of die) method is a lean production framework to reduce waste and increase production efficiency. The SMED method is a framework for reducing the time associated with completing an equipment changeover.

Spotify Model

spotify-model
The Spotify Model is an autonomous approach to scaling agile, focusing on culture communication, accountability, and quality. The Spotify model was first recognized in 2012 after Henrik Kniberg, and Anders Ivarsson released a white paper detailing how streaming company Spotify approached agility. Therefore, the Spotify model represents an evolution of agile.

Test-Driven Development

test-driven-development
As the name suggests, TDD is a test-driven technique for delivering high-quality software rapidly and sustainably. It is an iterative approach based on the idea that a failing test should be written before any code for a feature or function is written. Test-Driven Development (TDD) is an approach to software development that relies on very short development cycles.

Timeboxing

timeboxing
Timeboxing is a simple yet powerful time-management technique for improving productivity. Timeboxing describes the process of proactively scheduling a block of time to spend on a task in the future. It was first described by author James Martin in a book about agile software development.

Scrum

what-is-scrum
Scrum is a methodology co-created by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland for effective team collaboration on complex products. Scrum was primarily thought for software development projects to deliver new software capability every 2-4 weeks. It is a sub-group of agile also used in project management to improve startups’ productivity.

Scrumban

scrumban
Scrumban is a project management framework that is a hybrid of two popular agile methodologies: Scrum and Kanban. Scrumban is a popular approach to helping businesses focus on the right strategic tasks while simultaneously strengthening their processes.

Scrum Anti-Patterns

scrum-anti-patterns
Scrum anti-patterns describe any attractive, easy-to-implement solution that ultimately makes a problem worse. Therefore, these are the practice not to follow to prevent issues from emerging. Some classic examples of scrum anti-patterns comprise absent product owners, pre-assigned tickets (making individuals work in isolation), and discounting retrospectives (where review meetings are not useful to really make improvements).

Scrum At Scale

scrum-at-scale
Scrum at Scale (Scrum@Scale) is a framework that Scrum teams use to address complex problems and deliver high-value products. Scrum at Scale was created through a joint venture between the Scrum Alliance and Scrum Inc. The joint venture was overseen by Jeff Sutherland, a co-creator of Scrum and one of the principal authors of the Agile Manifesto.

Six Sigma

six-sigma
Six Sigma is a data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating errors or defects in a product, service, or process. Six Sigma was developed by Motorola as a management approach based on quality fundamentals in the early 1980s. A decade later, it was popularized by General Electric who estimated that the methodology saved them $12 billion in the first five years of operation.

Stretch Objectives

stretch-objectives
Stretch objectives describe any task an agile team plans to complete without expressly committing to do so. Teams incorporate stretch objectives during a Sprint or Program Increment (PI) as part of Scaled Agile. They are used when the agile team is unsure of its capacity to attain an objective. Therefore, stretch objectives are instead outcomes that, while extremely desirable, are not the difference between the success or failure of each sprint.

Toyota Production System

toyota-production-system
The Toyota Production System (TPS) is an early form of lean manufacturing created by auto-manufacturer Toyota. Created by the Toyota Motor Corporation in the 1940s and 50s, the Toyota Production System seeks to manufacture vehicles ordered by customers most quickly and efficiently possible.

Total Quality Management

total-quality-management
The Total Quality Management (TQM) framework is a technique based on the premise that employees continuously work on their ability to provide value to customers. Importantly, the word “total” means that all employees are involved in the process – regardless of whether they work in development, production, or fulfillment.

Waterfall

waterfall-model
The waterfall model was first described by Herbert D. Benington in 1956 during a presentation about the software used in radar imaging during the Cold War. Since there were no knowledge-based, creative software development strategies at the time, the waterfall method became standard practice. The waterfall model is a linear and sequential project management framework. 

Read Also: Continuous Innovation, Agile Methodology, Lean Startup, Business Model Innovation, Project Management.

Read Next: Agile Methodology, Lean Methodology, Agile Project Management, Scrum, Kanban, Six Sigma.

Main Guides:

Main Case Studies:

More Resources

Scroll to Top

Discover more from FourWeekMBA

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

FourWeekMBA